Get matched with top outdoor kitchen pros in Athens, TN

"(TL/DR: We are happy with the work Cory did, and I would recommend him for your landscaping needs.) The theme here is "all's well that ends well." Cory is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and he's very agreeable to work with. He and his crew work remarkably quickly, too, and the quality of work is very good. The job was not without its hiccups, though. Cory is not a proactive communicator, and that caused us some grief along the way. Without boring you with every detail, Cory and his crew got to work on Day 1, and by the end of Day 2, they had built an entire retaining wall on a line different from the one we'd talked about. He told me he had lain the foundation on Day 1 and, when he didn't hear from me, assumed it was correct and moved on to building the wall on Day 2. Problem is, he didn't inform me that I needed to review his Day 1 work (I never imagined that he would do the work differently than what we talked about when he met me for the initial estimate), or that he would interpret no word from me as acceptance of his work. The result was that he had to deconstruct the wall and then rebuild it along the correct line, which I'm sure was a lot of work, but he did it and did so cheerfully. This kerfuffle was unfortunately repeated, in essence, with the landscape stairs--building, followed by no word from him, followed by silence from me, followed by a discrepancy between what he built and what I wanted. This was especially frustrating, because, after the wall incident, he said he would take photos of the unfinished stairs and send them to me for approval before completing them. But, all's well that ends well: he and I met to discuss the issue, and then he and his crew redid the stairs to my satisfaction. To sum up, my experience with Cory is that he will make judgment calls, build, and hope it works out right rather than consulting you to see what you want and doing it that way (or telling you it can't be done that way for a particular reason). If you have a drawn plan that Cory can refer to, you may not have these issues, and perhaps I should have insisted on drawing him a plan when he didn't insist on having one before beginning work. Or, if you don't work during the day, you could oversee the work and give feedback as it's happening to prevent any issues from arising. But don't expect Cory to be proactive about communication. So, after all that, do I regret getting Cory to do the work? Absolutely not. He got it done quickly, did it well, did it for an excellent price, and went the extra mile to make sure we were happy. And we are. We are very excited about the way things turned out, and we can't wait to use the back yard space that Cory helped us create. I would absolutely recommend him."

"Rhett Ellison of Ellison’s Home Improvements is a class act. I live in NC and was charged with finding a North Georgia contractor to design, build and install outside stairrails/balusters for a 1970-something home inhabited by my 80 and 84 year old in-laws, both of whom have balance & walking difficulties. Neither set of steps was built per today’s standards so simply purchasing a kit or similar was not possible. Additionally, this issue was ignored by family members until I involved Rhett. Suddenly, he’s inundated with texts/questions for which I already had answers per our discussions. However, I needed numerous written responses from him so I could forward to these individuals doubting my ability to discuss my in-law’s needs. Rhett has the patience of Job and showed such kindness in walking me thru his ideas and explaining everything to my in-laws until they were comfortable. Rhett met with my in-laws on two separate occasions to confirm their wishes regarding and comfort with the design decisions. His work also involved replacing step with a small deck/stairs. Additionally, he created a step between a living room and a later built sunroom that required a significant step down/up due to height difference & installing two outdoor wrought iron grab bars. He contacted me the same day as I posted an inquiry on Angi’s and within 2 weeks, completed the project. I wish he lived in North Carolina! Fantastic customer service, a creative mind and a skilled professional!"

"They are couple of young men. They did an exceptional job. They are very timely and professional. They gave me a good deal."

"They were professional and on time. The service was good."